Mowing machine and structure for discharged mowed grass

ABSTRACT

A mowing machine having a plurality of recessed-blades-carrying mowing plates (2), each having a plurality of projections (3) each provided with a front cutting edge (4) formed at the front end and also having sharp recessed blades (5) provided in fixed positions slightly receding from the front end and between said projections. The blades are fixed to the outer periphery of a rotary weeding body (10) in such positions recessed blades (5) of one plate deviate from those of the others in rotational phase so that recessed blade all together sweep the whole periphery of said rotary weeding body (10) which is provided on the vehicle body rotatably in the forward and reverse directions. A grass sweeper (25) is provided on the vehicle body in a position higher than the support shaft so as to be in proximity to or in elastic contact with said rotary weeding body for enabling simultaneous grass sweeping, mowing, and grass collection in cooperation with a rotary grass removing body (55) even when the machine is driven either of the forward and reverse directions. The rotary weeding body (10) is controlled in rotational operating speed and composed of a support shaft (24) and rotary weeder (9) which are in the structure capable of being disassembled from each other. All mowing plates are attachable to or detachable from the machine and replaceable simultaneously and quickly.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a mowing machine, and more particularly, to amowing machine including a motor provided on a vehicle body on which aweeding rotary body having on the outer circumference thereof aplurality of recessed-blade-carrying mowing plates is rotatablysupported, and further including both a structure for removing the weedswhich become entangled in a rotary weeding body while it is turned and astructure for simultaneously replacing the plurality ofrecessed-blade-carrying mowing plates by another set of object plates.

2. Description of the Related Art

In the past it has been preferable to mow and grade simultaneously butplain mowing plates could not be used for very long because they areeasily broken. It is not useful to grade more soil than is necessary bya large machine provided with a plurality of thick blades. InternationalPatent Application PCT/JP, 89/01206, proposed by MASARU TSUDA, disclosesone conventional apparatus which shows the reformation of plain bladeswhich are easily damaged.

Since the operational speed of this prior art weeder is set to a lowlevel which does not allow the lawn grass to be cut, the weeding isperformed with a very small quantity of broken pieces of lawn grass andbroken pieces of hardskin-carrying weeds left adhering to the edges ofthe weeder.

As a result, the uncut lawn grass impinging upon the mass of the cutlawn grass and weeds adhering to the blades of the weeder is therebyrepulsed or slips thereon, and does not even directly touch theseblades, and the quantity of the broken pieces of lawn grass and weedsadhering to and winding around the blades tends to increase over time.This makes it necessary to interrupt the weeding operation and removethe grass adhering to the weeding plates and rotary weeding body.

Besides, the aforesaid front edges which serve to maintain the recessedblades sharp are dull, so that the weeding performed near the positionof the projections is not as completely performed as near the locationof the recessed blades.

Therefor, to more effectively carry out weeding, it has become necessaryto adjust the rotational phase of a plurality of recessed blades so asto make it possible to sweep over a predetermined range in the rotatingouter circumferential area of a weeding rotary body without permitting agap in coverage.

If the recessed blades are excessively positioned on the rear side withrespect to the front edges, the leaves and stalks of lawn grass come ina bunch into the clearances in front of the recessed blades and amongthe projections, so that the weeds on the front side thereof areprotected by these leaves and stalks and left uncut.

Conversely, if the recessed blades are excessively positioned on thefront side, even the projecting portions of solid objects, the sizes ofwhich are larger than the distance between two adjacent projections,crash directly into the sharp recessed blades in many cases.

Therefore the recessed blades are easily damaged, and it becomesdifficult to maintain the sharpness of the back blades.

Moreover, if the projections are formed to have a small length, theeffect thereof in loosing the entangled weeds on a lawn decreases, andsuch projections lose effectiveness in catching a thick and hard stalkof a weed, which is often encountered on a lawn, and floating its root.

In addition, a preferable operation speed of the rotary weeding body inthis prior art apparatus is not clearly defined.

According to these proposed techniques, the height at which the weedsare mowed is regulated mainly by varying the distance between a supportshaft and the mowing plates in the structure of the rotary weeding body.

In order to wash or polish this apparatus, it is necessary that therotary weeding body be removed with the support shaft from an apparatusbody, or that the mowing plates may be removed one by one.

Namely, it is inconvenient to subject the apparatus to a washing orpolishing operation.

The above-mentioned patent application does not include a proposal forproviding a multifunction weeder, for example, a weeder having aplurality of types of weeding plates from which weeding plates havingsuitable types of blades are selected in accordance with the conditionsat the job site.

There exist lawn mowers and grass cutters having mowing plates formed ina circle. Since these apparatuses have no function of selectively mowingtypes of grass softer than lawn grass, they are not the same kind ofapparatuses as the apparatus disclosed in the above publication. Inshort, there are no concrete proposals for employing the techniques, ina lawn mower and a grass cutter, for attaching and detaching a pluralityof grass cutting plates simultaneously to and from a rotary mowing bodyor removing entangled grass from the grass mowing plates while therotary weeding body is turned.

The reasons for the above reside in the following.

Out of the blades and stalks of various kinds of grass, those of lawngrass are generally the thinnest and most flexible but they have a hardskin and are difficult to mow.

Therefore, when lawn grass impinges directly upon a mowing blade movingat a high speed, it presses the cut weeds and lawn grass which havealready adhered to the front end portion of the blades and cuts and rubsthem off before the lawn grass impinging upon the mowing blades has beencut off.

Such action occurs continuously while a rotary weeding body is rotatedso that the cut weeds and lawn grass adhering to and wound around themowing blades can be ignored while the mowing blades are sharp, i.e.,and effective.

If such action appears on a rotary weeding machine, the mowing plate iseasily broken because it is supported on a narrow center part.

Devices having blades similar to that of the blades on the weedingplates used in the present invention include a hedge trimmer used mainlyfor cutting off the twigs of a tree, and a miniaturized hedge trimmerused for mowing the grass in a small area.

Namely, the apparatus disclosed in PCT/JP, 89/01206 and the machine forremoving weeds in lawns according to the present invention do not haveany general points in common with any other types of grass cutters, lawnmowers and hedge trimmers regarding the function, operation, effect andobjects thereof.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a machine for mowing lawn grass athigh speed, and for weeding and grading, in addition to removing theweeds on lawns. The present invention consists basically of a rotaryweeding body which is connected to a motor provided on a chassis onwhich the rotary body is rotatably supported, and which is provided onits outer circumferential portion with a plurality ofrecessed-blade-carrying mowing plates, each of which are composed of anedged tool manufacturing plate material, such as a steel plate or astainless steel plate. Each plate has a plurality of projections, eachplate provided with a front edge provided among the projections with therecessed blades which are recessed rearward more than about half of thedistance between two adjacent projections. The support shaft of therotary weeding body is adjustable to a specified level above the ground,and picks up the cut-grass and efficiently ejects the grass by means ofa structure for discharging the grass, and ensured long uninterruptedweeding operation time. The afore-said discharging structure and thestructure for replacing the rotary weeder are preferably provided on avehicle body having a rotary weeding machine.

Therefore, strong tips or wedge-shaped projections in cross-section areformed at the front end portions of a plurality of projections and therecessed blades are made sharp in positions which are close to a linepassing the front ends of the projections, which does not cause thebunting of the leaves and stalks of lawn grass to occur in each spacebetween two adjacent projections and in front of the recessed blade inbetween.

Thus, the recessed blades are provided so that they contact weedsdirectly so as to carry out the mowing thereof easily. If the recessedblades are too close to the mentioned line, the effect thereof inloosening the entangled lawn grass decreases, as previously mentioned,so that the recessed blades are readily damaged and unable to floatthrough the thick stalks of weeds.

Accordingly, the recessed blades are preferably provided so that thedistance between the front end of each thereof and a line passing thefront ends of the projections is substantially set back a distancegreater than about half the distance between two adjacent projections.

If the recessed blades are formed in this manner, the greater part ofsolid objects having sizes typically larger than the distance betweentwo adjacent projections does not directly impinge upon the recessedblades which are away from the line passing the front end of theprojections by a distance larger than the radius of such a large object,so that the recessed blades are not damaged.

If the front edges and recessed blades are formed so as to extend upwardand downward, respectively, it becomes convenient, when the length ofthe front edges decreases due to the abrasion thereof with the distancebetween the front ends of the recessed blades and a line passing thefront ends of projections thereby becoming smaller, to regain a properlevel of this distance. This proper level can be obtained again bygrinding only the lower surfaces of the recessed blades so as to putback the front end thereof.

Since lawn grass is soft and has a hard skin, it is not cut with theblades on the mowing plates of which front edges has a predeterminedwidth at a low speed. The lawn grass in front of a projecting blade ispushed down, and separated from the lawn grass, which has beenintertwisted therewith, in front of an adjacent recessed blade, becomesable to contact the recessed blade easily. As a result, weeds havingthick and hard stalks and wide leaves are also caught in the spacesamong the projections, and floated weeds with their roots exposed aremowed with the blades on the following mowing plates provided withrecessed blades provided between a number of projections.

Since the projections on these recessed-blade-carrying mowing platesrepulse a solid object the size of which is larger than the distancebetween two adjacent projections, the recessed blades are protected.

Even when the front edges eat slightly in to the earth, the recessedblades are rarely damaged. In this case, the earth is scooped so thatthe earth leveling effect can also be expected, and the mowing bladesare able to cut the lawn at high speed.

It is necessary that the height of these mowing plates be regulated inaccordance with the length of object lawn grass and the kind and degreeof growth of object weeds.

According to the present invention, the height of the mowing plates isset by regulating the height above the ground surface of a support shaftof a rotary weeding body rather than the height above the ground surfaceof the rotary weeding body itself, and mainly by regulating the heightof the wheels when speeding up the mowing operation.

It is desirable that the mowing speed of the mowing plates be setregulatable in accordance with the hardness of lawn grass and weeds ineach season and the sharpness of the mowing blades.

In order to set mowing plates, the number of which is a multiple of 2,on a rotary weeding body, the position of the projections occupiedthereby at the time of rotation of the rotary body of one of twoadjacent mowing plates is set in accordance with that of the recessedblades occupied thereby at such a time on the other.

If, in this case, the width of the recessed blades is greater than thatof the front edges, the portion of grass which is above a plane of acertain height above the ground surface is necessarily mowed evenly withthe sharp recessed blades. Consequently, no part of the lawn grass isleft uncut.

The mowing plates are desirably fixed to the rotary body in this manner,such that the whole of the portion of object grass which is above apredetermined plane can be mowed.

When the recessed blades provided among the front edges are formed atthe front end portions alone of the mowing plates, the rotary weeder isoperated with the rotary body turned forward at all times, and thisrotary weeder is operated mainly for selectively mowing the grass on alawn.

However, when such recessed blades provided among the front edges areformed at the rear end portions as well of the mowing plates, the sameoperation can be carried out by turning the rotary body in a reversedirection.

In addition, while the rotary weeder is operated with the rotary bodyturned forward, and, while the rotary weeder is operated with the rotarybody turned backward, the rear end portion of the mowing plates withrespect to the direction of rotation thereof are rubbed against thesurface of a lawn so as to sweep off the grass adhering to the backblades from an opposite side thereof. The devices which effectivelysweep cut grass from the blades during a mowing operation are (1) agrass sweeper attached to a chassis so that the grass sweeper is closeto the outer circumferential surface of a mowing plate provided on thecircumferential surface of the rotary weeding body, and (2) a grasssweeper brought into resilient contact with the outer circumferentialsurface of a weeding plate so as to scrape off the cut pieces of lawngrass and weeds adhering to the mowing blades. Since these devicesprevent the build-up of entangled grass, it becomes possible to operatethe rotary weeder continuously for long periods of time.

However, providing such a grass sweeper in a low position on the frontside of a mowing section is not preferable because such a grass sweeperpushes and inclines the grass to be cut at an angle at which therecessed blades impinging upon the grass do not easily bite there into.

Adding to that, the grass sweeper is desirably provided in a positionwhere it will not disturb the rotating wind which blows off the cutgrass toward the grass collectors over the rotary weeding body, and itis desirable that the grass sweeper be provided at least at a higherposition than that of the supporting shaft.

The apparatus in which the rotary body can be turned both forward andbackward, as mentioned above, is sometimes operated with the front andrear sides of the chassis reversed, and, in such a case, the collectionof object grass is carried out in two directions.

Therefore, this apparatus is provided with a mowed grass discharge spaceabove a rotary weeding body, a grass sweeper below the mowed grassdischarge space, motor above the grass sweeper, and front and rear grasscollectors for collecting the mowed grass where the grass collector ispositioned on the opposite side with respect to the direction ofrotation of the rotary body. If these grass collectors are detachablyformed, a grass mowing operation can be carried out speedily, and thecleaning of the mowing blades can be done easily.

During an operation of the apparatus, both a grass sweeping effect andan effect of mowing weeds on a lawn can be obtained.

Moreover, because the position of a grass ejecting wall which dividesthe current of the rotating wind that is caused by the rotation of therotary weeding body is determined by the rotating direction as eitherforwardly or reversely of the rotary weeding body, it is necessary thatthe position of grass ejecting wall should be changeable. When therotary weeding body is rotated forwardly, the front grass ejectingspace, that is, the space between the rotating outer circumference ofthe rotary weeding body and the front grass ejecting wall, isnecessarily wide and spreads upward to a predetermined range, and therear grass ejecting wall is preferably close to the outer circumferenceof the rotary weeding body as the grass guide space, that is, the spacebetween the outer circumference of the rotary weeding body and the reargrass ejecting body, should be narrow.

Therefore, when the rotary weeding body is reversely rotating theposition of the front and the rear grass ejecting wall should be changedto the opposite positions in order to collect the mowed grasses.

Because this changing of position is preferably carried out at once to apredetermined position and secured thereby, the rotating supportingbodies are integrally secured to the grass ejecting walls, therebyconstituting a rotary grass removing body.

If a mower or a machine for removing weeds on a lawn is provided with areel type rotary weeding body divided into a support member carryingsupport shaft, and one or two rotary weeders fixed unitarily at one or aplurality of supporting means, engaged with the support members andformed detachably with respect to the support shaft, and provided ineach support member, which is fixed to the mowing plates, with a shaftbore opened to a width at least equal to the diameter of the supportshaft, so as to extend outward toward a position between two adjacentmowing plates, or a plurality of rotary weeders combined with each otherat the opposed support members thereof to form a structure forinterchanging rotary weeders. The cleaning, maintenance, polishing,repairing, changing of use and selective employment of the mowing bladescan be carried out speedily and easily on a job site.

This structure for interchanging rotary weeding members provides thefunctions mentioned above of a single weeding apparatus of mowing lawngrass and removing weeds on a lawn can be changed speedily.

Automating the wheels or connecting the weeding apparatus to anautomobile, so as to mow the weeds on a lawn by a remote control means,constitutes a more desirable method of improving the practicality of thepresent invention.

The rotary machine of the present invention supports mowing plates atits ends, so that the importance of toughness of the mowing platesdecreases and allows the possibility of making the mowing platesthinner.

And as the supporting disk shaped rotor protrudes slightly from itscircumferential edge that the configuration prevents cut grass fromintruding onto the upper surface thereof, in addition, the rotatingshaft becomes free from adhering mowed grasses and the short part of theskirt, that is, the upper most portion makes out the grass ejectingspaces.

Although a motor is used as a prime mover, it is clear that some otherkind of prime mover, for example, an internal combustion engine, mayalso be utilized.

In addition, it is an object to control the rotating speed of the mowingplates by some apparatus as a motor controller, axle, clutch and so on.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

All of the accompanying drawings are reduced scale drawings of anembodiment of the present invention, wherein:

FIG. 1-4 show an example of a plurality of recessed-blade-carryingmowing plates;

FIG. 1 is a bottom view of an example of the mowing plate;

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of an example of the mowing plate;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of an example of a mowing plate;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the one-dot chain line a--a' inFIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a partial plan view of the preferred embodiment of a pluralityof recessed-blades-carrying mowing plates;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the one-dot chain line a--a' inFIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the preferred embodiment of a plurality ofrecessed-blade-carrying mowing plates to which mounting members arefixed;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along the-one-dot chain line b--b' inFIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a front elevation of an example of a rotary weeding body;

FIG. 10 is a side elevation of the rotary weeding body;

FIG. 11 is a reduced scale front elevation of an embodiment of a frontand rear side reversible mowing machine;

FIG. 12 is a side elevation of the embodiment of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is an enlarged front view of what is shown in FIG. 11;

FIG. 14 is a side perspective view of what is shown in FIG. 13;

FIGS. 15-17 are a partial sectional views illustrating a structure forvertically regulating a wheel, wherein;

FIG. 15 shows a wheel set to a second mowing height;

FIG. 16 shows the wheel being regulated to a third mowing height;

FIG. 17 shows the wheel finished being regulated to a third rowingheight;.

FIG. 18 is an assembly drawing of a grass sweeping device;

FIG. 19 is a perspective view of parts of the grass sweeping device;

FIG. 20 is a perspective view of the rotary grass removing body shown inFIG. 14;

FIG. 21 is a schematic perspective profile map of an example of aunidirectional machine for removing weeds on a lawn;

FIGS. 22-23 show a perspective view of parts of the rotary weeding bodyshown in FIG. 21;

FIG. 22 shows a support shaft on which support members are providedunitarily therewith;

FIG. 23 shows a rotary weeder capable of being attached to and detachedfrom the support shaft;

FIGS. 24-26 illustrate an example of a fitting type rotary weeder,wherein:

FIG. 24 is a side elevation of a rotary weeder; and

FIG. 25 is a side elevation of a support shaft provided with a supportmember;

FIG. 26 is a side elevation of the rotary weeder fitted on the supportshaft;

FIGS. 27-28 are assembling drawings of a two-part combined type rotaryweeding body wherein:

FIG. 27 is an exploded side elevation of the two-part combined typerotary weeding body;

FIG. 28 is an exploded front elevation of the rotary weeding body;

FIG. 29 is a side elevation of the rotary weeding body finished beingassembled; and

FIG. 30 is a front elevation of the rotary weeding body finished beingassembled;

FIG. 31 is a schematic front elevation of a rotary mowing machine;

FIG. 32 is a schematic side elevation of the machine of FIG. 31;

FIG. 33 is a schematic plan view of the machine of FIG. 31;

FIG. 34 is a schematic bottom view of the machine of FIG. 31;

FIG. 35 is a front view of an example of a rotary mowing machineprovided with a grass sweeper;

FIG. 36 is a bottom view of the machine of FIG. 35.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention will now be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

Referring to FIGS. 1-4, a plurality of recessed-blade-carrying mowingplates 2, each having a plurality of projections 3 and each providedwith a font edge 4 formed at the front end and also having sharprecessed blades 5 provided in fixed positions slightly receding from thefront end between said projections, are preferably rugged inconstruction and sharp to prevent breakage by a solid object like asmall stone, when it crashes directly to the mowing plate, as shown inFIGS. 1-4. The front ends have a predetermined width forming either astraight line or an arc on its corner. The sectional view of theprojections is wedge shaped, and their lower surfaces are shaped toextend upward by grinding or pressing in order to prevent them fromcrashing into a grass sweeper.

If lower surfaces of the recessed blades are shaped to extend upward,any shock caused by impact with some solid object is smaller than thatof extending them downward in the object operation of mowing the weedson lawns, and for grading, the blades are not damaged as much as theywould be if they extended downward.

Moreover, if the recessed blades are wider than the distance of twoadjacent front edges, as shown in FIG. 2, the roots of the projectionsbecome weak and easily breakable such that the recessed blades should beshaped to have greater strength.

If the recessed blades extend upward, the groove for shaping recessedblades cut on the lower surface that the tips of cut grasses areprevented from adhering to upper surfaces of the weeding plate, but ifthe blades extend downward, the tips of the cut blades of grass are easyadhered to the upper surface of the mowing plates.

Thus, the projections and recessed blades are shaped in various formsaccording to the objects of operation, so that some preferred forms fora mowing machine for removing weeds on lawns will now be described.

Referring to FIGS. 5-10, a mowing plate formed by using a material,mainly an edged tool manufacturing material, such as a steel plate and astainless steel plate, is provided with a plurality of projections 3 onwhich front edges 4 of a predetermined width are formed in parallel withone another so that the front ends of the front edges face substantiallyin the direction of advance of the mowing machine. Sharp recessed blades5 of a width at least not smaller than the thickness of the rhizomes tobe mowed are formed, and a line passing between the rearmost portion ofeach recessed blades and the front ends of the projections is not lessthan about 30% and not more than about 200% of a distance between twoadjacent projections 3 with the recessed blades facing in the directionof advance of the mowing machine.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, each projection is formed arcuately at thefront end thereof so that the intermediate portion of the front end isrecessed backward, and the mowing plate is curved so that the innersurface thereof is recessed outward.

The front edges are formed so as to extend upward, and the recessedblades downward. Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, mounting members 6 areprovided on a mowing plate bent at the longitudinally intermediateportion thereof, and this mowing plate is fixed unitarily to supportmembers 23, which are provided on a support shaft 24 of a rotary weedingbody 10, via these mounting members.

In this arrangement, the rotary phase of the recessed blades of one of aplurality of recessed-blade-carrying mowing plates and that of theprojections of the other are matched with each other (refer to α and bin FIG. 9).

This means that the recessed blades are arranged so that they are movedalong the rotating surfaces of a plurality of recessed-blade-carryingmowing plates at the circumferential portion of the rotary weeding bodywith substantially no clearance left between the recessed blades andthese rotating surfaces.

If the plurality of recessed-blade-carrying mowing plates is fixed, asshown in FIG. 10, with the rear end portion thereof along a smallercircle shown by a broken line in FIG. 10, and formed arcuately along asmaller circle shown by a broken line in FIG. 10, the mowing plates donot violently impinge upon a grass sweeper, which is adapted to contactmowing plates slightly and resiliently, when the rotary body is turnedin the direction of an arrow.

In the case where weeds consisting mainly of clover are removed by usingthe plurality of recessed-blade-carrying mowing plates 2, each platehaving, for example, recessed blades and projections of 6 mm in widthwith a distance between the rearmost portion of each recessed blades anda line passing the front end of the projections set to 5 mm, the mowingplates, which are provided on the outer circumferential portion of arotary weeding body, are preferably set to a variable speed of 4-13m/sec and reversely rotatable.

If the rotary body is turned at 7-8 m/sec while the recessed blades arenew and sharp, lawn grass of a length of around 15 cm can be mowedsubstantially without hurting the lawn, even in late autumn, in whichthe skin of lawn grass is comparatively hard.

Accordingly, when the lawn grass of approximately 5 cm in length is aptto repulse the blades, and, even if the operation speed of the mowingplates is set to 10-13 m/sec, the weeds can be mowed without fatallydamaging the lawn in many cases. However, in spring in which the skin oflawn grass is soft, the lawn is damaged in some cases unless theoperation speed of the mowing plates is reduced to around 4-7 m/sec.

Therefore, it is important to form the mowing plates so that they can beregulated to an optimum operation speed on a job site since there arecompound and incalculable factors, such as the degree of sharpness ofthe blades, seasonal conditions, kind and length of lawn grass, and thehumidity and the water content of the atmosphere and lawn grass.

The embodiments of the machine for removing weeds on lawns which isprovided with the above described the plurality ofrecessed-blades-carrying mowing plates will now be described withreference to the drawings.

FIG. 11-20 show a preferred embodiment of the present invention, inwhich a front and rear side-reversible mowing machine 1 for removingweeds on lawns is provided at both sides thereof with side plates, eachof which is bent at its peripheral portion to a predetermined width toform a peripheral rim.

From one side of a space between these side plates, wheels 37 servingboth as front wheels and rear wheels, a rotary weeding body, which ispositioned in the central portion of this space, and the other set ofwheels 37, are provided. A support shaft 24 of the rotary weeding body10 extends through each side plate 39, and a larger pulley 21 is mountedon the portion of this shaft 24 which projects from the outer surface ofthe side plate, just above the larger pulley 21. An end portion of ashaft of a motor 13 on the inner side of a motor covering wall 43 isextended through and projects from the side plate and a smaller pulley22 is mounted on the projecting portion thereof, the larger and smallerpulleys being connected together by a belt 20.

Just under the larger pulley 21, a handle receiver 12 supports the lowerend portion of a predetermined angle. If the handle is turned in theopposite direction, it can be held in a position shown by a two-dotchain line, and the machine can be moved in reverse.

In FIG. 13, in the space between the side plates, a shelf 36, the heightof which is a half of that of the side plates, is provided so as toextend from one end of the space to the other except the intermediateportion thereof.

The ends of a grass sweeper are loosely fitted in slide cases 41provided on the inner surfaces of both side walls at the level justabove the outer circumferential track R of the rotary weeding body 10provided in the middle of the weeder 6.

The cross-section of the grass sweeper 25 has an angled bar shape, andangled short pieces 46 are secured to the ends of the grass sweeper.

These short pieces are vertically slidably inserted into the lowerportion of the slide cases 41 provided on the inner walls of the bothside plates and downwardly pressed from thereabove by virtue of theelastic force of an elastic body 42 formed of rubber. A cover 47prevents the elastic body 42 from coming off.

Thus, a grass sweeping device 40 is constructed as described above, andthe grass sweeper 25 comes into elastic contact with a plurality ofrecessed-blade-carrying mowing plates 2 (FIGS. 14, 18 and 19).

A rotating shaft 53 rotatably supports rotating supporting bodies 54just below the slide cases 41 provided on the inner surfaces of the sidewalls.

A pair of left and right rotating supporting bodies 54 are integrallysecured to the left and right side ends of front and rear grass ejectingwalls 52, thereby constituting a rotary grass removing body 55.

In the rear, a switching supporting body 48 is rotatable supported atone end thereof with respect to the side wall by means of a switchingshaft 56 is fitted over either of two (upper and lower) projections onthe outer surface of the side plate through a switching hole 57 to besecured thereto, thereby making it possible to adjust the position ofrotary grass removing body 54 indicated by a thick broken lines or thicksolid lines in FIG. 14 and FIG. 12.

Furthermore, an air door 16 is rotatably mounted at an upper end of thefront and rear grass ejecting walls by means of a hinge 44, and thelower end edge portion of the air door 16 is located above the inner endedge portion of the afore-said shelf so as to come into close contactwith the upper surface of the shelf when the rotary grass removing body55 rotates to lower the grass ejecting wall, whereby an air flow issmoothly passed in a grass collecting direction, thereby facilitatingcollection of grass.

Therefore, the front and rear ejecting walls can simultaneously berotated by operating the switching means 49 on the out side wall so asto maintain a wide grass ejecting space inside one of the grass ejectingwalls allowing the inner surface of the other grass ejecting Wall toapproach the rotating outer circumference of the rotary weeding body.Therefore, if the rotary weeding body is rotated and halted by up-cut soas to maintain a grass ejecting space forwardly and upwardly of arotating direction, when the rotary weeding body is driven in adirection indicated by an arrow Q, cut grasses are caused to fly in thegrass ejecting space as shown by a small arrow and swept by the grasssweeper, whereby they are collected into a grass collector 15 providedin the rear, thus making it possible to carry out a weeding operationwhile collecting cut grasses to a sufficient extent.

There are various types of switching and halting means for theafore-said switching shaft, and it is easy to automatically control therotation and halt of the rotating supporting body such as by coupling itto a servo-motor to control the rotation of the rotating supportingbody.

Moreover, it is also easy to manually or automatically control therotating speed of the rotary weeding body by operating a motorcontroller 45 inside a motor covering wall 43 by means of a control dial38 projecting upwardly and centrally.

Since this motor controller can continuously keep the weeding cyclingspeed of the plurality of recessed-blade-carrying mowing plates mountedon the rotary weeding body in the range from 0 to 25 m/sec, it ispossible to carry out both mowing and weeding in the grass by selectingmowing plates.

Consequently, an embodiment of the present invention can be used as amowing machine for carrying out mowing in a vast field when aself-propelled model is developed by using the afore-said automaticcontrol.

In the mowing machine 1 for mowing in this example, the mowing height isregulated at the wheels 37 serving both as front wheels and rear wheels.

For this purpose, both end portions of an axle 32 are fixed to lowerportion of left and right regulators 26 consisting of metallic plates,and regulating shafts 31 are passed through the portions of theregulators 26 which are below these end portions of the regulators 26which are these end portions of the axles, one end of each of theregulating shafts 31 being fixed to the inner surface of the relativeside plate 39 (FIGS. 15, 16 and 17).

A slide slit 30 is made in the regulator 26 so as to extend from theintermediate portion thereof to the upper portion thereof. When arocking member 29 formed slidably along this slide slit 30 is positionedin the uppermost portion of the slide slit (Refer to FIG. 17), theregulator 26 can be turned around the regulating shaft 31 from the upperend of a regulating bore 27 to the lower end thereof.

In order to shift the regulator 26 from a suitable position, forexample, an intermediate step (FIG. 15) to the uppermost step, thelocking member 29 is slid upward, and the regulator 26 is turned toupper side of locking recesses 28.

The locking member 29 may then be slid downward toward the uppermostlocking recess 28 amount the three-step rocking recesses (FIG. 17).

Consequently, the wheel 37 serving both as a front wheel and a rearwheel is suspended higher by a level corresponding to that at which theaxle 32 is lifted, and the mowing height is set to the position thusobtained.

Since the regulator 26 can be set firmly in any of the three-steplocking recesses by carrying out the above-described operation, themowing height of the mowing machine for mowing in this example can beset to one of three levels.

It is preferable that a return pressure be applied to the locking memberin the downward direction via a resilient member, thus set can beoperated more easily. The slide regulating unit in this example has asimple construction, and can be applied to the operation of a singlewheel.

FIGS. 21, 22 and 23 illustrate another embodiment of the presentinvention in which a structure for replacing rotary weeder is applied. Amowing machine 1 is provided at both sides thereof with side plates 39each of which is formed by bending a plate material at its peripheralportion to a predetermined width to obtain a peripheral rim thereon. Ina space between the side plates, front wheels 18, a rotary weeding body10 and upper and lower grass sweepers 25, a motor 13 covered with frontand rear motor covering walls 43, and a rear wheel 19 are arranged inthe mentioned order.

A larger pulley is provided on one outer side of the rotary weedingbody, and a smaller pulley on the outer side of the motor 13, theselarger and smaller pulleys being connected together by a belt and drivenby the rotary weeding body.

The rotary weeding body is formed by engaging cross-shaped mountingmembers 6 adapted to fix four of a plurality of recessed-blade-carryingmowing plates thereto and consisting of a flat plate with support member23, and mounting the resultant products detachably on the support shaft.

Specifically, a shaft bore in the central portion of the mounting member6 is cut and opened to a width equal to the diameter of the shaft in theoutward direction toward a position between two adjacent mowing platesto form an insert recess 33. Flat square support members 23 are fixed onthe portion of a support shaft 24 on which the support members 23contact the mounting members 6, and pad members 34 to be fitted in thecut and opened insert recesses 33 are attached to the support members23.

In this example, each rotary weeder may be assembled by inserting themounting member 6 at its insert recess 33 around the support shaft 24,inserting the four mounting holes in the mounting member around bolts 8on the support member, bringing the mounting member and support memberclose to each other and tightening them with nuts.

It is clear that the rotary weeder can be removed from the support shaftby reversing these steps.

Therefore, all of the four mowing plates can be attached and detachedsimultaneously and simply, and the weight of the rotary weeding body inthis example is well-balanced because of pad members 34, so that thebalance of the rotation thereof is not lost.

According to the present invention, various types of blades can beselected since the rotary weeders can be easily interchanged.

Since rotary weeders having various diameters can be providedsimultaneously, the operational speed of the mowing plates can also bechanged.

Since interchangeable spare parts are available on a job site, themowing plates can be replaced simply when worn out, and this enables amowing operation to be carried out efficiently.

Since mowing plates can be attached and detached easily, the rotaryweeding body can be disassembled and cleaned speedily and completely.

FIGS. 24, 25 and 26 illustrate still another embodiment of the presentinvention, in which only parts of a rotary weeding body which aredifferent from the corresponding parts of the previously describedembodiment will be described.

A plurality of support members 23 are provided on a support shaft 24 ofthe rotary weeding body, and a ring 35 having a support shaft bore inthe central portion thereof is fused unitarily to the support member 23and support shaft 24. A central shaft bore in a mounting member 6 ismade to a diameter which permits the shaft bore to be fitted around thering 35, and it is cut and opened portion to be fitted around thesupport shaft, in such a manner that the cut and opened portion extendtoward a position between two adjacent mowing plates 2 to form aninstant recess 33.

Accordingly, the shaft bore in the central portion of the mountingmember 6 in this example is fitted around a ring 35, so that the boltholes in the mounting member 6 and those in the support member 23 arealigned with one another. Therefore, these two members can be combinedwith each other with bolts and nuts. Insert recesses are also provided.

Even if the shaft bores are large, the support shaft can be inserted inthe central portions thereof, and all of the mowing plates can be set onthe mounting members simultaneously by combining the mounting membersunitarily with the support members. Moreover, these parts can bedisassembled by taking the above steps of procedure reversely.

FIGS. 27-30 illustrate a fourth embodiment of the present invention,which shows an example of a rotary weeder formed with two identicallyshaped portions.

A plurality of recessed-blade-carrying mowing plates are fixed to eachof the mounting members each of which consists of a flat plate, and hasa cut provided in the portion thereof which corresponds to one ofear-shaped support members 23 on both sides of a support shaft 24, andan insert recess 33 formed by cutting and opening a shaft bore in themounting member.

Such two mounting members are mounted on the support shaft 24 so thatthe mounting members face in the vertically opposite directions and areset on each other from the left and right sides thereof with referenceto the support members 23 on the support shaft 24, these mountingmembers are then combined tightly with bolts 8 and nuts.

It is clear that the two rotary weeder can be removed by disassemblingthe rotary weeding body by reversing this procedure.

As mentioned above, each of the two-part combined type rotary weeder canbe formed to the same shape, so that this example is advantageous withrespect to the manufacturing cost and the convenience of replacement ofmowing plates.

Moreover, this example has a good weight balance and a good rotarybalance.

FIGS. 31-38 illustrate a fifth embodiment of the present invention inwhich one of the mowing plates adapted to rotate forwardly and reverselyfor mowing operations is secured at the ends thereof to a supportingmember 63 at the lowest portion of a skirt 62 of a rotary mowing machine64.

Since it is secured at the ends thereof where the strongest force isapplied, the mowing plate is difficult to break.

This rotor 60 has a disk shape, and its whole circumferential edgeslightly protrudes from the securing portions of upper edge of the skirt62. This configuration prevents cut grass from intruding onto the uppersurface thereof.

In addition, the downward width of the skirt is not constant, andportions between the lowest portions that confront each other at 180degrees smoothly incline to the uppermost portions.

The uppermost portions are located intermediately between the lowestportions, and therefore the uppermost portions also confront each otherat 180 degrees as the lowest portions do.

A grass ejecting space 50 is produced between the lower edge of theupwardly cut portion of the skirt and the rotating surface of the mowingplate 1.

The rotating shaft of a motor 13 is put through the center of this rotor60, and the shaft is secured to the rotor 60 by means of a securing nut59.

Therefore, even if the above rotor 60 rotates at high speed, the loweredge of the skirt rotates along the same circumference and in amoderately inclined fashion in a vertical direction, and this reducesair resistance, and greatly increases the strength. Furthermore, reverserotations removes entanglement of cut grass.

A front wheel supporting portion of the above mentioned rotor 60 and arear upper portion thereof continuing from that supporting portion arecovered by a rotor cover 61, and the motor 13 is mounted at the centralupper portion thereof.

Left and right front wheels 18 are provided on the left and right sidesof the motor 13, respectively, and a handle 11 is rotatably mounted onthe left- and right-hand sides of the motor 13 slightly rearwardlythereof by means of a handle receivers 12. A switch 17 is provided at agrip portion of this handle 11, and forward and reverse rotations may befreely made by this switch. In the lower surface of the rotor cover 61,a cover is formed rearwardly from the rotating area of the rotor at thesame level as that of the mowing plate 1 so as to be continued from theupper portion, and the cover constitute the bottom surface of a hoodcommunicating with a rear grass collector 15. Furthermore, rear wheel 19is mounted at the center and rearwardly of this bottom surface.

The two front wheels and the one rear wheel are constructed so as to bevertically adjustable up to a predetermined height, whereby it ispossible to adjust the mowing height of the rotor, and it is clear thatthe mowing height of the rotor can be adjusted by means for adjustingthe rotor vertically over a predetermined distance.

Thus, weeding or mowing of grass can be carried out by controlling amotor controller for adjusting the rotating speed of the mowing plate 1to a suitable value in the range of 1 to 13 m/second by operating acontrol dial 38.

FIGS. 35 and 36 show one example in which the above embodiment isemployed. In this example, an engaging shaft 65 provided at the centerof a grass sweeper 25 on which a flat rectangular plate is integrallymounted on the lower end portion of the rotor cover 61 at the endthereof is rotatably fitted in a shaft hole formed in the center of amowing plates 2, and while being made to approach or brought intocontact with the grass sweeper, the rotor is driven to simultaneouslycarry out sweeping and clipping of grass.

It is preferable to form the flat rectangular grass sweeper in such amanner that the front or rear thereof is formed into a parabolic shape.

In this embodiment, it is possible to carry out weeding or mowing byrotating the rotor at low speed, and if a mowing plate with recessedblades instead of flat blades, is used, it is possible to carry outmowing at lower speed. This is because grass is caught betweenprojection to thereby make it difficult for grass to slip. Moreover, itis preferable to carrying out mowing while rotating the rotor forwardlyand reversely.

In the above embodiments, the mowing machine may be constructed into anautomobile or to be drawn by a tractor to suitably carry out theafore-said weeding and grading, mowing or weeding in the lawn.

As described above, the mowing machine according to the presentinvention is not only capable of carrying out weeding and mowing byrotating the mowing plates at high speed but also capable of mowing on alawn with lawn grass left unmowed by adjusting the suitable rotatingspeed of the mowing plates and grading on a golf course, and on acomparatively plain garden and farm, so that it is capable of saving theusing amount of herbicide, or using nothing of it and reducing theenvironmental pollution.

What is claimed is:
 1. A mowing machine for mowing grass on the ground,comprising:a vehicle body; a rotary weeding body rotatably supported onsaid vehicle body; a plurality of recessed-blade-carrying mowing plateslocated on an outer circumference of said rotary weeding body, each saidplate having a plurality of projections and a plurality of recessedblades each provided between each said projection; and a motor mountedon said vehicle body and connected to said rotary body,wherein the phaseof rotation of each said recessed-blade-carrying mowing plates isadjusted to allow said plurality of recessed blades to sweep over apredetermined range in the rotating outer circumferential area of saidrotary weeding body without forming a gap in mowing coverage as saidvehicle body travels along the ground.
 2. A mowing machine as recited inclaim 1, further comprising a grass sweeper provided on said vehiclebody for removing cut grass from said rotary weeding body.
 3. A mowingmachine as recited in claim 1, wherein said plurality of projectionshave a plurality of front edges arranged in parallel with each other,the front edges forming dull blades of predetermined width, wherein eachsaid recessed blade has a width greater than the diameter of a stem rootof the grass to be cut and a depth of between 30% and 200% of thedistance between each said projection.
 4. A mowing machine as recited inclaim 2, including an adjusting means for adjusting the mowing cyclingspeed of said plurality of recessed-blade-carrying mowing plates to avalue between 4 and 13 meters/second, and further including a supportingshaft for supporting said grass sweeper.
 5. A mowing machine as recitedin claim 4, wherein said grass sweeper is supported by a plurality ofcushions above said supporting shaft.
 6. A mowing machine as recited inclaim 4, wherein said grass sweeper is elastically brought into closeproximity with said plurality of recessed-blade-carrying mowing plates.7. A mowing machine as recited in claim 4, wherein said grass sweeper iselastically brought into contact with said plurality ofrecessed-blade-carrying mowing plates.
 8. A mowing machine as recited inclaim 7, wherein said mowing machine is of a forward and reverseadvancing type, further comprising:a pair of rotating supporting bodiessupported by a rotating shaft rotatably provided on supporting walls onthe sides of said mowing machine; front and rear grass ejecting wallsintegrally secured to said rotating bodies on the sides of said mowingmachine; and stopping means for stopping said rotating supporting meansin a predetermined grass ejecting position.
 9. A mowing machine asrecited in claim 8, wherein a cut grass ejecting space is provided abovesaid rotary weeding body,wherein said motor is provided above saidspace, and wherein grass collectors communicating with said space areprovided forwardly and rearwardly of said rotary weeding body.
 10. Amowing machine as recited in claim 1, further comprising a leveladjusting mechanism for vertically adjusting the lowest level of saidrotary weeding body when rotated.